Beachcombing: The beach is full of amazing seafood, but my wife won't let me get out of bed!

Wu Sui hummed an unknown tune as he returned to the old stone house at the east end of the village.

Chen Xue was preparing food for them to eat when they went out to sea that night.

Hearing the noise, she looked up.

"You're back? How was it?"

Wu Sui walked over, picked up a hot bun, and took a bite.

"It's done."

Seeing his confident demeanor, Chen Xue felt relieved.

After Wang Feng's outburst in the yard, she was genuinely worried that Wu Sui would clash with the village chief.

"It's good that things are done. I was just worried that you would lose your temper and argue with Uncle Changgui again."

"No way, I'm going there on business, not to seek revenge."

Wu Sui swallowed the bun in a few bites and clapped his hands.

Ya Ya, wearing a little dress, was playing on the bed with a small clay conch shell in her hand. When she saw Wu Sui, she giggled and called out to him.

"dad!"

Wu Sui bent down and pulled her into his arms, deliberately rubbing his newly sprouted stubble on his chin against her face.

"Oh, let Daddy give me a kiss."

Ya Ya giggled as she was pricked, and pushed Wu Sui's face hard with her little hands.

"Prickly! Daddy has grown thorns!"

Chen Xue watched the father and son bickering from the side, and couldn't help but smile.

After Wu Sui put Ya Ya down and let her play by herself, he moved a small stool to the front of the stove.

"Honey, how much cash do we have left?"

Chen Xue paused for a moment, tied a knot in the net, stood up, and walked into the house.

"Wait a minute, I'll show you the bankbook."

Before long, Chen Xue came out with the passbook.

"I've deposited all the money you brought back recently, except for the money I gave to my older brother and the money I used to buy things."

She opened the folded book and pointed to the numbers on it.

"All in all, it's 42300 yuan."

Looking at the number, Chen Xue felt quite satisfied.

Just two weeks ago, she couldn't even come up with a hundred yuan.

But the thought of the ship being delivered next month made her frown again.

"Ah Sui, are you worried about the final payment for the big ship?"

Chen Xue lowered her voice, "If it's really not enough, shall we borrow some from my older brother and sister-in-law? Or I can go back to my parents' house and raise some money."

"Once the ship makes money at sea, we'll pay them back with interest."

Looking at her cautious and concerned expression, Wu Sui felt a surge of warmth in her heart.

He reached out and grasped Chen Xue's somewhat rough hand.

"There's no rush to pay the balance of the ship; there's still time."

"Then why are you asking how much money your family has?" Chen Xue asked, somewhat puzzled.

Wu Sui scratched his head and coughed lightly.

"Well... I was going to talk to Uncle Changgui about the land for our house today."

"Hmm, it's been approved?"

"The permit was approved, but I didn't want the plot behind the stone house; I took the saline-alkali land next to it."

Chen Xue paused for a moment: "That wasteland? That's fine too. Anyway, it's connected to the house we live in now. I can clean it up and build a house there when I have time."

"Um... honey, aren't you going to ask me how big I bought?"

"Just buy whatever you think is best, as long as it's enough for our family."

Wu Sui touched his nose, feeling somewhat guilty.

"I bought more than three acres, over two thousand square meters..."

Chen Xue clicked her tongue in amazement.

Three acres of land, that would require a huge yard.

"That must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Wu Sui nodded: "The land fee isn't expensive; the village charges it as wasteland. However... I also promised Uncle Changgui something else."

"What's wrong?" Chen Xue suddenly had a bad feeling.

"I promised to donate 20,000 yuan to the village primary school."

The room fell silent instantly.

Chen Xue's eyes widened, thinking she had misheard.

"How much...?"

"Twenty thousand."

Chen Xue abruptly pulled her hand away from Wu Sui's, her eyes visibly red.

"Twenty thousand?!" Her voice trembled. "Ah Sui, are you crazy? Our family only has a little over forty thousand in total, and you're just asking to donate twenty thousand?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back.

"You work day and night at sea, how could you agree to donate money?"

Chen Xue became more and more anxious as she spoke, her voice trembling with tears.

"The final payment for the big ship is still outstanding, and now you want to buy three acres of land and donate 20,000 yuan to the primary school."

"You're driving yourself to your death!"

She grabbed Wu Sui's arm. "Sui, I don't want a big house or a big yard."

"Our family is safe and sound, and it's good to live in this stone house. Really."

Seeing his wife's eyes redden with anxiety, Wu Sui felt heartbroken.

He understood her grievance and heartache.

For a woman who is used to saving every penny, 20,000 yuan is like cutting off a piece of her flesh.

Wu Sui grabbed her shoulder with his other hand and pulled her closer with a little force.

"Wife, don't be in a hurry, let me finish what I have to say."

Chen Xue turned her head away, wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, and remained silent.

"You think I'm just throwing money away to act like a big shot?"

Wu Sui sighed, his tone becoming very serious.

"Think about it carefully, Xiaohu should be starting elementary school on September 1st, right?"

"Yaya will be going to school in two years."

"The roof of our village primary school was blown off three rooms last month by a typhoon."

"The town doesn't care, and the village doesn't have the money to repair it."

"What will happen to the children if it really collapses or can't continue?"

Chen Xue was stunned and turned to look at him.

Wu Sui pointed in the direction of the town.

"The school already has few children. If the building collapses, the children will have no choice but to attend the town's primary school."

"It's more than ten miles from our village to the town. Even by bicycle, it would take more than half an hour."

"When it rains or is windy, Xiaohu and Yaya are so tiny, and they're always getting hurt on the road. Don't you feel sorry for them?"

Chen Xue bit her lip, and the image of her child braving the wind and rain to go to school in town flashed through her mind. Tears streamed down her face.

"I'm donating 20,000 yuan. Uncle Changgui can use it to repair the school and even get a new batch of desks and chairs."

"The school is saved, so Xiaohu and Yaya can go to school in the village."

"We can go home for a hot meal at noon, and if anything happens, we can get there in just a few steps."

"On the surface, this 20,000 yuan is a donation to the village, but in reality, it's to give our own children peace of mind."

Wu Sui reached out and wiped away Chen Xue's tears, her voice softening.

"Besides, the village chief wouldn't have approved my request for those three acres of land in the first place."

"Without that 20,000 yuan as a starting point, how could we have gotten such a large piece of land?"

"This is called spending little money to accomplish big things. You have to have a long-term vision and not just focus on the tens of thousands of yuan in your hand."

As Chen Xue listened to Wu Sui's detailed explanation, the anger and resentment in her heart slowly dissipated.

Looking at the man in front of her, she suddenly felt that he had become a stranger, yet he also made her feel at ease.

In the past, Wu Sui would go to town to gamble and drink if he had ten yuan in his pocket.

Now, Wu Sui has already started making plans for her child's future in a few years.

"But..." Chen Xue sniffed, still hesitant, "What about the remaining payment for the big ship?"

"Don't worry, since your man dared to ask, he's confident he can earn the money back," Wu Sui laughed.

"Aren't we going to collect our longline fishing gear tonight? With two thousand hooks, we're sure we'll make at least twenty thousand dollars!"

Chen Xue was completely speechless.

She lowered her head, looked at the passbook in her hand, and muttered to herself.

"Sister-in-law is right. You can't keep up with how much you spend money. You're willing to do anything."

Wu Sui pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"If you're not brave enough, how can you and Ya Ya live a good life?"

Chen Xue leaned against his broad chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, and the anxiety that had been hanging over her finally subsided.